Have you heard the word “pass” related to photography more than once and you’ve probably finally inferred that it has nothing to do with dance?But perhaps beyond that, you’re still in a sea of doubt.
Whether you’re thinking about dance steps or swimming in a sea of doubt, this article is for you, even if it sounds very complicated, the truth is that it’s very simple, just know several concepts that we will see little by little.
- The stages of photography simply refer to the increase or reduction of light in the exposure of our photographs.
Raising a notch means increasing the light supply and lowering a notch, on the contrary, means reducing the light supply.
Now the question is: how much light are we talking about exactly, shall we take a look at this?
We first commented that one step is to increase or decrease the light; Specifically, one step is to bend the light input or halve it depending on whether we go up or down the stage.
For example, when we are working on an aperture of f/5. 6 and need more light, what we do is open the aperture af/4. With this simple movement of the diaphragm, we multiply by 2 the light input of our sensor. If on the contrary we want to reduce the light input what we will do is close the diaphragm of f / 5. 6 af / 8, with this we would reduce the light input by half, in both cases moved a slight step, up or down, doubling or dividing the light intake in half.
Now, when we talk about steps, we not only talk about diaphragm steps, we also talk about steps in ISO (sensitivity) or speed, but not afraid, because despite the different units and nomenclatures, the steps work exactly the same. In the same way for speed, ISO or aperture, only adjusting one or the other has a different influence on the final result of the photo.
These three variables (aperture, speed and ISO) are what we call the exposure triangle variables, by which the exposure or light input received by our sensor or film is controlled. Let’s see how:
This is the moment when the shutter of our camera remains open, allowing light to pass through the sensor. Basically, this is the moment when we tell our camera that we have to take the picture.
If we use higher speeds, the shutter opens and closes faster; That is, it remains open for less time, which, for practical purposes, allows us to freeze the movement in the scene but allows less light to enter.
If we use lower speeds, the shutter stays open longer, allowing more light to enter and capture the motion track of the scene on the sensor.
Since we talk about time, speed counts in seconds. When we talk about non-speed, they work in exactly the same way as when we talk about opening or not ISO; We duplicate or divide the light input, for example, if we rotate at a speed of 1/60 s and need more light, we will reduce the speed by one step, which will give us twice as much light at 1/30 s.
The diaphragm not only controls the amount of light that enters the sensor of our camera, but also controls the depth of field or the area focused on the image, the closer it is, the less light there will be and the more depth of field we will have On the contrary, the more open it is, the more light will enter but the less depth of field it will have.
This is the sensitivity of the film or camera sensor to light. The higher the ISO value, the greater the sensitivity, but?Worse?image quality or more grain in the image. The lower the ISO value, the lower the sensitivity, but the better the image quality; less grain.
When you adjust the sensitivity to have more light and move the ISO from 100 to 200, what you really do is increase the absence of light or double the light you have; conversely, if you reduce a light step in sensitivity, divide that value by 2, for example, from ISO 100 to ISO 50.
We’ve always recommended that you venture to try out your camera’s semi-manual modes, especially since you’re learning to master the manual first, even if it seems like a big challenge. To do this, you must first be clear, the concepts associated with the exposure triangle and how these affect the final image, because it is not only the amount of light that we change when we move the diaphragm, the speed or ISO up or down, it is also the depth of field, the quality of the image, or the possibility to freeze the movement or not.
Once you’ve mastered all three exposure variables and learned to combine them together, no photo will resist you. You’ll use the steps of one of its variables mechanically, almost without thinking. If you sign up for a photography course and are told to go up or open 2 stops of the diaphragm, slow down and lower another, you won’t look like you have stomach pain, but you will do it naturally, at least reaching the following conclusions yourself.
Here’s an example
If it sounds Chinese to you, it is a matter of practice and assimilation of concepts little by little, or why not, suggest exercises yourself: if I want to double the depth of field but want to maintain the ISO, how do I do it? If I want a slow speed but I have too much light, how do I do it? Etc. , And little by little you will see how you solve these situations quickly and effectively.
Everything we started seems like an inaccessible mountain, but step by step we get to the top, and in this case, never better?
I hope I helped you understand the concept of “steps” in photography. If that’s the case, I’d appreciate it if you’d share this article with someone else you think might be interested in reading it. Thank you and next time?